Romanticism and Popular Culture

This evolving bibliography collects media that represent Romantic-era works and historical figures in fictional contexts. We welcome feedback and additions from the RC community.

Film

Gods and Monsters

Director:

Bill Condon

Publication Information:

BBC/Lionsgate Films (USA)

Date:

1998

Gods and Monsters is a 1998 British-American drama film that recounts the (somewhat fictionalized) last days of the life of troubled film director James Whale, whose experience of war in World War One is a central theme. The film features reconstructions of the filming of Bride of Frankenstein, a movie Whale directed. The title comes from a line in Bride of Frankenstein, in which the character Dr. Pretorius toasts Dr. Frankenstein, "To a new world of gods and monsters."

Starring Ian McKellan, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Jack Betts, and Rosalind Ayres.

Gothic

Director:

Ken Russell

Publication Information:

Virgin Vision (UK)

Date:

1986

"Gabriel Byrne as Byron, Julian Sands as PBS, Natasha Richardson [no relation] as MWGS" —A. Richardson. ". . . filmed in the Lake District" —W. Jewett.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Director:

Chris Columbus

Date:

2002

In the 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, one of the paintings in the hall of Hogwarts is Joseph Severn's 1821-1823 portrait of John Keats sitting in two chairs and composing "Ode to a Nightingale."

Haunted Summer

Author:

Anne Edwards

Director:

Ivan Passer

Publication Information:

Martin Poll

Date:

1988

"Laura Dern as Claire Clairmont (which would you least want to be pursued by, Byron and PBS or a clutch of velociraptors?), Eric Stoltz as PBS, Alice Krige as MWGS" —A. Richardson.

"Alex Winter (Bill of Bill & Ted fame) as Byron's excellent doctor" —W. Jewett.

"Alice Krige as MWS!!! I get a distinct sense of satisfaction from the idea that the woman who played the Borg Queen also played the woman who gave us Frankenstein." —M. Sites.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Director:

Charlie Kaufman

Publication Information:

Netflix

Date:

2020

In one of the opening scenes of the 2020 film I'm Thinking of Ending Things (written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, based on the book of the same title by Iain Reid), two characters -- Jake (Jesse Plemons) and Young Woman (Jessie Buckley) -- discuss William Wordsworth. The Young Woman quotes "the child is father to the man," and Jake mentions "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" and the Lucy poems.

Impromptu

Director:

James Lapine

Publication Information:

Stuart Oken, Daniel. A. Sherkow

Date:

1991

"Impromptu is a 1991 British-American period drama film directed by James Lapine, written by Sarah Kernochan, produced by Daniel A. Sherkow and Stuart Oken, and starring Hugh Grant as Frédéric Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand. The film was shot entirely on location in France as a British production by an American company. The main location used was at the Chateau des Briottières outside of Angers, in the Loire Valley." -Wikipedia

Independence Day

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Publication Information:

Twentieth Century Fox

Date:

1996

In the 1996 film Independence Day, "When Captain Hiller [Will Smith] is talking to General Grey [Robert Loggia] about returning to El Toro, the giant screen behind them is displaying some sort of night vision display and the bottom of the screen is endlessly rotating through various numbers and stats.

Jane Austen Fight Club

Director:

Emily Janice Card, Keith Paugh

Date:

2010

A short film parodying Regency England, Jane Austen, and Fight Club.

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter

Director:

William Beaudine

Publication Information:

Embassy Pictures/Circle

Date:

1965

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is a low-budget western/horror hybrid film filmed in 1965, in which a fictionalized version of the real-life western outlaw Jesse James encounters the fictional granddaughter (the movie's title notwithstanding) of the famous Dr. Frankenstein.

Kandukondain Kandukondain

Director:

Rajiv Menon

Publication Information:

Sri Surya Films

Date:

2000

"Kandukondain Kandukondain is a 2000 Indian Tamil romance film based on Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility." -Wikipedia

Killing Frankestayna Karsi

Director:

Nuri Akinci

Publication Information:

Omur Film

Date:

1967

Directed by Nuri Akinci, starring Otkay Gursel, Oya Peri, Gultekin Ceylan, Ferhan Tanseli, Aynur Aydan, and Yasar Sener.

Lady Caroline Lamb

Director:

Robert Bolt

Publication Information:

Fernando Ghia

Date:

1972

Richard Chamberlain as Byron.

"Lady Caroline Lamb is a 1972 film based on the life of the notorious Lady Caroline Lamb (1785-1828), lover of Lord Byron and wife of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (later Prime Minister). The film was written and directed by Robert Bolt and starred his wife, Sarah Miles, as Lady Caroline." -Wikipedia

Lady Frankenstein (La Figlia di Frankenstein)

Director:

Mel Welles

Publication Information:

Condor International/New World Pictures

Date:

1971

Lady Frankenstein (Italian: La Figlia di Frankenstein) is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mel Welles.

Lady Hamilton (1921)

Director:

Richard Oswald

Date:

1921

Tags:

Emma Hamilton

From Wikipedia: Lady Hamilton is a 1921 German silent historical film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Liane Haid, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss. The film depicts the love affair between the British Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Emma Hamilton. It was based on two novels by Heinrich Vollrath Schumacher.

Last Days

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Publication Information:

HBO Films

Date:

2005

Gus Van Sant’s Last Days (2005), which is loosely based on the final hours of Kurt Cobain, has a central character called Blake. -Wikipedia

Last Frankenstein

Director:

Takeshi Kawamura

Publication Information:

Bandai/BF Film/Rittor Music/Shochhiku

Date:

1991

This 1992 Japanese film tells the story of a scientist who sets out to create the new "super Adam and Eve", humans who cannot be controlled by their emotions. Of course, the end result it not exactly what the good doctor expects.

Starring Akira Emoto, Yoshio Harada, and Naomasa Musaka.

--description by IMDB.com

Manhattan

Director:

Woody Allen

Date:

1979

Dianne Keaton’s character claims that that a featureless steel cube "was perfectly integrated, and it had a marvelous kind of negative capability.”

Manhunter

Director:

Michael Mann

Publication Information:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Date:

1986

Manhunter (1986)...includes images of Blake's "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun". -Wikipedia

Mansfield Park

Director:

Patricia Rozema

Publication Information:

Miramax, HAL Films

Date:

1999

"Mansfield Park is a 1999 British romantic comedy-drama film based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name...The film departs from the original novel in several respects. For example, the life of Jane Austen is incorporated into the film, as well as the issues of slavery and plantation life." -Wikipedia

Mary Poppins

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Publication Information:

Walt Disney Productions

Date:

1964

In Disney's film version of Mary Poppins (1964), the titular nanny quotes the opening lines of John Keats's Endymion.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Publication Information:

America Zoetrope/TriStar Pictures (UK and USA)

Date:

1994

When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.

Starring Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham-Carter, Aidan Quinn, Tom Hulce, and John Cleese.

--description by IMDB.com

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